Park in Progress

8:53 pm, Wed 27 Mar 2013

Park in Progress tour

The Olympic Park, off limits to the public since the end of the London 2012 Games more than six months ago, is reopening for short visits.

So far, 20,000 tickets have been purchased by people wanting to get their first glimpse of the site in Stratford where Olympic and Paralympic medals were won.

The Park in Progress Tours are set to run on weekends and during school holidays from March 29 to June 23. Visitors will have to wear hard-hats and high-visibility jackets as the venue is now once again a construction site.

It will reopen as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, complete with housing, businesses, parklands and venues to stage sporting, entertainment and community events.

"So many people want to see the park and to know why it is changing because they loved it so much when they were last here. Of course, when you take away the toilets, shops, the McDonald's and all the people, what you end up with is concrete. Part of the chance to visit is for people to understand that new things are coming but that it looks like this at the moment.It is also to try and make sure they understand that where the venues are changing they are evolving for people to use.

The swimming pool, for example, is now a swimming pool for everyone and the community, not just Olympic medallists.We are taking down the basketball arena because that is where we will start building homes. The park is becoming a place for people to live, work and play."

– Peter Tudor, London Legacy Development Corporation